Rashid Khan was in brilliant form for Afghanistan in the second ODI against South Africa in Sharjah on Friday. The Afghan star took five wickets as Afghanistan restricted South Africa to just 134 and defended a total of 311. In doing so, Rashid became the first cricketer in the 53-year history of ODI cricket to take five wickets on his birthday. Rashid turned 26 on Friday. Before that, the best figures by a bowler in ODIs were 4/12: Vernon Philander v Ireland, Belfast, 2007 and 4/44: Stuart Broad v Australia, Cardiff, 2010.

A superb five-wicket haul from spinner Rashid Khan helped Afghanistan create history on Friday by registering their first ODI series win against South Africa with a sensational 177-run victory in the second match of the three-match series here. The 177-run win is Afghanistan’s highest win by runs in an ODI, surpassing the previous record of 154-run victory against Zimbabwe. Afghanistan had won the first match on Wednesday by six wickets and Friday’s victory gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and a memorable series win against another Test-playing nation.

Afghanistan chose to bat first and benefited from a brilliant century from opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz as well as half-centuries from Rahmat Shah (50) and Azmatullah Omarzai (86 not out) to reach a challenging total of 311/4 in 50 overs.

In return, South Africa failed to capitalise on their 73-run opening partnership, suffered a collapse of the middle and lower orders and were bowled out for 134 runs in 34.2 overs, a massive defeat with a lead of around 15 overs. Rashid Khan finished with 9-1-19-5 while Nangeyalia Kharote scored 5-19 runs as Afghanistan pulled off a massive win.

After captain Hashmatullah Shahidi chose to bat first, Gurbaz scored his seventh hundred in ODIs, breaking Ahmad Shahzad’s record for most hundreds by an Afghan batsman.

He and co-opener Riaz Hassan (29) scored 88 runs for the first wicket, completing his half-century in 56 balls. He and Rahman then scored 101 runs for the second wicket, scoring 50 runs in 66 balls and hitting two boundaries.

Gurbaz reached the milestone off 107 balls, scoring 10 boundaries and three maximums. He survived a DRS dismissal en route to a score of 105 off 110 balls before being brushed out of the wicket by Nandre Burget with a length ball that rebounded and hit the top of the stumps as Gurbaz swung and missed.

Azmatullah Omarzai then took over the responsibility of scoring for Afghanistan and scored an unbeaten 86 off 50 balls, hitting five boundaries and six massive sixes that bolstered Afghanistan’s score and helped the team post a high total.

South Africa had a target of 312 and started well. Captain Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi scored 73 runs in 14 overs. Bavuma scored 38 runs from 47 deliveries, hitting four boundaries and a sixer.

Tony de Zorzi contributed 31 runs from 44 balls and after Reeza Hendriks (17) and Aiden Markram (21) helped South Africa to 103/4 in the 24th over when Cristan Stubbs was out for five runs, they lost that good position and experienced spinner Rashid Khan and the left-arm spinner with figures of 6.2 led to a somewhat cautious spell.

With IANS inputs